Washing-machine.



C. SHORMAN.

WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-20. 1912.

1,165,136. Patented Dec. 21, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET I.

A aw gz izam ATTORNEYS c. SHORMAN.

WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-20, 1912.

1, 165, 136. Patented De0. 21, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

C. SHORMAN.

WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED Aue.20. 1912.

1,165,136. Patented Dec.21,1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3- WITNESSES INVENTOR BY 3 ATTORNEYS C. SHORMAN.

WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-20. 1912.

1 mm H 11 2% s D H as W n 6 I. on P W ITNESSES Czmwrcgg fixing/L Mdwy" Hful Improvements in Washing-Machines, of

STATES PATENT OFFICE.

. GHAUNCEY snonamn, -or CHICAGO, iLmnoIs.

wnsiimc-mAcnmn.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec. 21, 1915.

v Application filed August 20, 1912. .eria1No. 716,003.

To all whom it may concem:

' Be .it known that I, CHAUNcEY SHOltMAN,

a citizen of the United- States, residing at Chicago, in the county ofCook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usewhich thefollowing is a specification.

Y My invention relatesingeneral .to laundry machinery and moreparticularly to washing machines. 1

As the cleansin of articles is accomplished' by subjecting themthoroughly to water impregnated with soap, it is usual in washingmachines either to agitate the articlesso as to expose all portions ofthem to] articles.

' The object of my invention is to provide an improved'washing machinein which the suds will be circulated through the articles the suds, orto force the suds through the,

a by the action of centrifugal force, thereby avoiding the wear upon thearticles incident to their mechanical agitation in the one type ,ofmachine, and rendering unnecessary the use of pumps to force the sudsthrough the articles in the other type of machine.

A further object of my invention is to provide acentrifugal laundry.machine adapted primarily for use in washing and rinsing articles, butalso adapted for use in extracting the water and moisture from thewashed article's.

i A still further object 'of my-invention to provide an improved washingmachine, which will be economical injoperation, efii? cient in use, andcomparativelysimple in construction.

My invention will be more fully described hereinafter-with reference tothe accompanying drawings," in which the same illustrated as embodied ina convenient and practieal form, and in which Figure l is an elevationalview; Fig.2- is a vertical section taken substantially. on line 2, 2,Fig. '3;Fig. 3, a horizontal section on line 3,13, Fig. 2'; Fig. 4, aplan view; Fig. 5, a central vertical sectionof a modified form of myinvention taken on line 5, 5, Fig. 8;

Fig. 6,.a detail elevational view of the scoop shown in- Fig. 5detached; Fig. 7, a detail sectional view on line 7 7, Fig. 5 and Fig.

which is preferably provided with relativelymovable sections to permitaccess to the in terior of the receptacle. Any suitable fasteningdevices, such as hooks b, may be provided for holding the sections ofthe cover in. closed relation.

C designates an outlet conduit leading from an opening in the bottom ofthe receptacle, and c a valve for controlling the discharge of waterthrough the conduit from the receptacle.

D designates a gage for indicating the height of the water level inthe're'ceptacle.

The receptacle A- is supported upon any suitable. structure, such, forinstance, as a base E, above which extend pairs of uprights E and Esuitably strengthened by braces e and c p F designates a container, orbasket, in-

closed. within the receptacle A and adapted to hold the articles tobelaundried. v

r f designates an opening through the upper portion of the wall of thebasket F through which the articles may be inserted and removed, suchopening being closed by any suitable cover, such, for instance, as aplate F opening inwardly so as to be held closed by the centrifugalaction due to the rotation of the basket. Openings 7" are preferablyformed in the cover plate F for a purpose hereinafter described.

Located around the basket and carried. Jthereby are a plurality ofsfcoops G in the form of pipes communicating-at their upper ends withthe interior of the top portion of the basket, and curved at their loweropen ends to lie adjacent .the bottom of the receptacle A. p

H designates a baffling plate surrounding the basketF and locatedbetween the same and the scoops G. Suitable brackets h, a

support the upper and lower portions of the bafile plate H upon theexteriorof the basket. The baffle H also serves to securely support thescoops G. In order to prevent the rotation of the water within thereceptacle, radially extending baffle plates I are located beneath thebasket F, the ends of such bafile plates preferably extending upwardly,as shown at i, between the scoops G and inner wall of the receptacle 'A.

.The basket F is supported concentrically within the receptacle A and isprovided with means for imparting thereto a rotary. motionabout avertical axis." In the embodiment. of myinvention disclosed in thedrawings, I have shown the basket Fas supported by a vertical sleeve Jhaving fixed to the upper end thereof a bevel gear wheel J. The lowerend of the sleeve J extends through a concentric opening in the uppersurface of the basket and is surrounded by a flange f on the basket;which is secured to the sleeve.

The sleeve also extends through the concentric opening in the cover B ofthe receptacle, a flanged bearing 21. being interposed between thesleeve and a1 flange formed around the opening on 'the receptacle cover.An annular shoulder "j is formed on the sleeve beneath a gear wheel J,such shoulder rest-.

ing upon an underlying circular bearing K. fixed to the sleeve.Interposed between the circular bearing K" and a bearing plate 6 mountedupon the transverse beam E of the supportingframe are suitable ballbearings k. In order to suitably inclose the ball bearings, acylindrical housing is is preferably'carried at the lower edge of thehear ing K and overlies a circular flange on the such transmissionmechanism as comprising a series of different sized gears Z, l and Zfixed upon the shaft L with any one ofv which is adapted to mesh acorresponding gear wheel m m or m splined upon the power shaft Mand'adapted to be moved axially thereon by any suitable means, such,

, forinstance, as a reciprocating rod M carrylng a yoke m engagingan'annular groove in a collar m secured to a sleeve upon which are fixedthe gear wheels m, m and m The rod M may be reciprocated by a lever M,'as shown in Fig. 2. v

M designates a motor for driving the power shaft M through the medium ofa' controlling the flow of hot reached the desired level.

clutch m into engagement with which is adapted to be moved a clutchmember 0 splined upon the power shaft M., The power shaft M may also berotated by hand power through the medium of a crank N loosely mountedupon the end of the power shaft and provided with a clutch n with Vwhich is adapted to engage a second clutch 0 splined upon the powershaft. 7 The clutch members 0 and 0 are provided with collars havingannular grooves in which engage yokes carried upon the upper ends oflevers O and O, respectively. The levers O and O" are connected bytherod 0 so that when 1 the lever O is oscillated to clutch the motor tothe power shaft the crank will be un-' clutched, and vice versa.

.P designates a tube extending concentrically through the sleeve J andterminat--j ing within the basket F, a screen 2 being preferablyprovided over the lower open end of the tube. Theupper end of the tube Pengages within a coupling P into which ,extend the ends of conduits pand p for delivering hot and cold water through the tube to the interiorof the basket, and

through the perforations therein, into the receptacle A. Suitable valves9 and 9 respectively, are provided for controllingthe supply of hot andcold water so as to produce the desired temperature.

Q, indicates a conduit communicating with the coupling P and leadingfrom a source ofhot air. V g indicates a valve in the conduitQ forconduitQ to, the tube P.

The operation and manner ofusing the embodiment of my invention abovedescribed {are-as follows: The cover B of the recepta'clelfA is openedand the plate F removed from the opening f through the top 0f,the basketF. The articles to be laundried are then inserted in the basket F,

after which the opening in the basket and the cover B are closed. Wateris allowed to flow through pipes p and 19 until the air through thewater' in the receptacle and basket has sionjlever M is manipulated soas to connect the counter-shaft with the powershaft through the gearswhich will impart to, the counter-shaft such speed as will rotate thebasket with the desired velocity. The clutch lever O is then operated soas to couple the motor to the power shaft, or when the machine is to beoperated by hand power,

The transmisso as to connect the crank N with the power shaft. Themeshed bevel gears L and J 'rotate' the vertical sleeve J and with itthe basket F. ,The centrifugal force resultingfrom the rotation ofthe'basket will throw the water outwardly through the perfora tions inthe basket against the inner surface of the bafiie plate H. lhe bafiieplate debasket by centrifugal action.

fiects the water downwardly. The curved tubular scoops G'being submergedat their lower ends, the water passes into them and is drawn upwardlythrough them into the basket F by the suction created throughcentrifugal action and is then discharged radially through the articlesin the basket, and out of the holes in the basket by centrifugal force.The fixed r'adial'baflie plates I prevent the water rotating, with thebasket, and hence insure the movement of the lower ends of the tubularscoops relatively to the water in the receptacle. The suds, or waterimpregnated with soap, consequently is forced outwardly by centrifugalforce" through the articles in the basket and is thence lifted upwardlyinto the top of the The articles are, therefore, speedily cleansed bythe passage of the suds through them. After the articles have beensufliciently washed, the

suds may be drawn off through the outlet conduit C and fresh watersupplied to the basket and receptacle, after which the bas ket may beagain rotated so as to rinse the articles by circulating water throughthem by the centrifugal action. After the articles have been rinsed, thewater is then drawn ofi' 'and'the lbasket rotated, preferably at higher.speed, to extract the water from the laundriedwrticles, throughcentrifugal action. This operation may be expedited by hot air suppliedthrough theconduit Q. In this operation the valve q is opened, and,preferably, openings 2 through the cover of the receptacle are a soopened, so that the centrifugal action of the rotating basket s willdraw the hot air through the tube P and throw the same radially throughthe articles, after which the air passes out through the openings f? in'the cover of the receptacle.

In Figs. 5 to 8, inclusive, I have shown a modified embodiment of myinvention in which the tubular scoops are omitted and a central inletperforated conduit R provided within the basket F. The conduit R extendsupwardly through the lower wall of the basket and is secured thereto inany suita le manner, as by means of a flanged collar' 97. Located belowthe bottom of the basket and communicating with the conduit It isachamber S from which depend a plum rality ofinclined scoops s. Sdesignates a plate within the chamber S overlying the inlets from thescoops. 8 indicates a post upon which the plate S is centered.

The operation of the embodiment of my invention shown in Figs. 5 to 8 issimilar to that above described in connection with Figs. 1 to 4, exceptthat the water is lifted upwardly withln the center of the basket. Thewater is thrown outwardly through the perforations in the basket and isscooped up by the scoops 8 and drawn past the 'valve plate by the use.of centrifugal extractors.

While I have described more or less indetail the specific form in whichI have illustrated my invention as embodied, yet 'I do not wish to beunderstood as limiting myself thereto, as I contemplate changes in form,

proportion of parts, and substitution of equivalents, ascircumstancesmay require, or as may be deemed expedient.

What I claim is:

1. In a centrifugal washing machine, the

combination with a tank, of a perforated rotary basket within said tank,a conduit car-' ried by'said basket and leading thereinto at a pointnearerits axis of rotation than and above the plane of the perforationstherethrough, said'conduit extending from a point adjacent the bottom ofsaid basket, driving means for rotating said basket at high speed, andbafiles fixed to said tank. beneath said readily by centrifugal actionthrough the basket, whereby water will be discharged f perforations ofthe basket and returned through said conduit to the interior of thebasket.

' 2. In a centrifugalwashing machine, the

combination with a tank, of a rotary basket within said tank havingoutlets therefrom, a conduit carried by and leading into said basket ata point nearer its axis of rotation than said outlets and extending froma point adjacent the bottom of said tank, a baffle plate surroundingsaid basket for directing the water discharged by centrifugal actionfrom the basket toward the bottom of said tank, driving means forrotating said basket at high speed, and fixed bafiies in the bottom ofsaid tank beneathsa-id basket, whereby water will be discharged bycentrifugal action: through the perforations in said basket and returnedthrough said conduit to the interior of the basket, so as tocontinuously circulate through the articles in the basket.

3. In a centrifugal washing machine, the

combination with a tank, of. a perforated I 125 hollow shaft extendingat its lower end rotary basket within said tank, a Vertical through andrigidly secured to the top of said basket, means for supporting saidshaft and thereby supporting said basket, means for imparting rotarymotion to said hollow shaft so as to rotate the basket secured Intestimony'whereof, I have subscribed thereto, a tullloe1 concengricallyextending my name.

through. said 01 OW sha t and terminating v w at its lower end Withinthe top of said lCHAUNOEY SHORMAN' 5 basket, and means for supplyingWater Witnesses:

through said tube to the interior of said GEO. L. WILKINSON, basket, A.L. WALTON.

